Apple is set to host specialized entrepreneur training camps that bars applicants based on their race and sex. To participate, organizations must have “black, Hispanic/Latinx, or Indigenous” members in both leadership and on staff.
The program will include two cohorts in October and November, the “underrepresented founders” and “female founders” groups. The camps, which offer valuable resources such as “one-on-one code-level guidance from Apple engineers,” list eligibility requirements that exclude would-be participants on the basis of their race and sex.
In order to participate in the underrepresented founders program, an organization must have “a black, Hispanic/Latinx, or Indigenous founder, cofounder, or CEO,” the eligibility requirements read. Organizations must also have a “black, Hispanic/Latinx, Indigenous, or female developer.”
Meanwhile, Apple’s “female founders program” stipulates that in order to be eligible, applicants must have “a female founder, cofounder, or CEO” as well as “a female developer.”
The program description denotes the word “female” with an asterisk and includes a note at the bottom of the page that reads “Apple believes that gender expression is a fundamental right. We welcome all women to apply to this program.”
David Bernstein, a professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law, told The Daily Wire that a plaintiff looking to sue Apple would have to reference California state law or the 1866 Civil Rights Act, which he stated is “generally held to be a bar to discriminating in any kind of contract based on race.”
“Apple might have some special legal obligations to the extent it’s a federal and state contractor,” Bernstein said.
The programs promise “unprecedented access to Apple engineers and leaders” and also awards participants with access to the “extended network of Apple Entrepreneur Camp alumni” and a year of free access to “beta software, advanced app capabilities, extensive beta testing tools, and app analytics.”
Apple is far from the only major company to impose race and sex-specific requirements on training programs and internships.
The Daily Wire recently revealed multiple racially discriminatory programs hosted by well-known companies, including a “diversity internship” at NASCAR that banned white applicants on the basis of their race and was called “blatantly illegal” by one lawyer.
NASCAR removed the racial eligibility requirement following the report from The Daily Wire, but has not yet removed two other programs that similarly discriminate.
There are also multiple internships at Oracle that discriminate against both white and Asian applicants on the basis of their race, as well as a “diversity scholarship program” at Voya Investment Management that was similarly not open to white applicants.
Meanwhile, major corporations like US Bank, Bayer, Best Buy, and Liberty Mutual participated in McKinsey and Company’s Connected Leaders Academy, which exclusively offered training to black, Hispanic, and Asian employees, but not to white employees.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment.